Construction
The contract to build her was awarded to Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newport News, Virginia on 19 April 1982 and her keel was laid down on 3 March 1984. She was launched on 15 March 1986 sponsored by Mrs. Rosemary D. Trible, and commissioned on 3 June 1989 with Commander Mark B. Keef in command. Mayor Jessie M. Rattley presented the ship with a commemorative plaque containing the poem "Newport News," written by Newport News native Ronald W. Bell, whose poem "Admiral Rickover" also appears upon a plaque aboard the Los Angeles class submarine Hyman G. Rickover. The poem appears on this page with permission from the author:
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- "Newport News"
- Harbor of a thousand ships
- Forger of a nation's fleet
- Gateway to the New World
- Where ocean and river meet
- Strength wrought from steel
- And a people's fortitude
- Such is the timeless legacy
- Of a place called Newport News.
Read more about this topic: USS Newport News (SSN-750)
Famous quotes containing the word construction:
“When the leaders choose to make themselves bidders at an auction of popularity, their talents, in the construction of the state, will be of no service. They will become flatterers instead of legislators; the instruments, not the guides, of the people.”
—Edmund Burke (1729–1797)
“There’s no art
To find the mind’s construction in the face.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Striving toward a goal puts a more pleasing construction on our advance toward death.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)